Sunday roundup: Phelps stands alone with 8th gold medal

August 17, 2008

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There won't be an all-American women's finals.

Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh were ousted with a loss to a Chinese team. Earlier Sunday, Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor advanced to the final four with a straight-sets victory over Brazilians Ana Paula and Larissa.

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Diving

Make it 5-for-5 for the Chinese divers.

Guo Jingjing defended her 3-meter springboard diving title and became the most decorated female diver with her sixth career medal. It's also her second of these games, having teamed with Wu Minxia to win the women's 3-meter synchronized title last weekend. Wu got the bronze in this event.

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Rowing

The U.S. women's eight took gold and the U.S. men's eight took bronze. Canada won the men's eight, becoming the first world champion crew to follow up with Olympic gold in 35 years.

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China won its first-ever rowing medal in women's quadruple sculls, prompting wild celebration at the venue in Beixiaoying Town.

The British are rolling through this tournament. Rebecca Romero -- a silver-winning rower in Athens -- gave Britain its fourth gold in five events, taking the women's individual pursuit. Also, their men's and women's pursuit team broke the world record on their way to the final.

American Jennie Reed advanced to a sprint quarterfinal, continuing her bid for the first medal by a U.S. woman in 20 years. Michael Blatchford didn't make the quarterfinal.

A Dutch rider crashed while riding from the athletes' village to the velodrome and broke his arm.

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Wrestling

Japan's Kaori Icho repeated as champion of the women's 63-kilogram division. She has won every world wrestling title in her weight class since 2002. American Randi Miller, wrestling in her first world-level senior international tournament, took bronze; it was the only medal for America in the four women's weight classes.

China's Wang Jiao won the women's 72-kilogram gold medal, beating the Bulgarian who'd won the last two world championships. The 20-year-old Wang was last year's world junior champion and only was chosen to wrestle after Athens gold medalist Wang Xu was hurt in training. American Ali Bernard lost a bronze-medal match.

Also, American Mike Zadick -- a world runner-up two years ago -- was a late addition to the 60-klilogram freestyle field, replacing an injured Bulgarian. He will wrestle Tuesday.

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Women's volleyball

The U.S. closed preliminary play by beating Poland in five sets. The Americans already secured a spot in the quarterfinals.

Cuban and Brazil finished prelims undefeated.

Poland, Venezuela, Kazakhstan and Algeria were eliminated.

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Sailing

The winds were up in Qingdao. Were they ever.

In strong winds, heavy waves and rain, Britain's Finn sailor Ben Ainslie won his third Olympic gold medal and American Zach Railey got silver, shortly after a trio of British women took the Yngling sailing gold.

Medals were not awarded in 49er skiff competition because of protests. The problems: The Danish team that finished first borrowed a skiff from the Croatian team that failed to make the 10-boat field, and because the race started after the 4:30 p.m. deadline set in Olympic racing rules. If the Danes get dumped, the Spanish flag will rise.

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Weightlifting

Ilya Ilin of Kazaksthan won the men's 94-kilogram title.

Ilin finished with a total of 406 kg (895.1 pounds) Sunday, sealing the win with the last of his six lifts.

European champion Szymon Kolecki of Poland took second place and Russia's Khadzhimurat Akkaev won the bronze.

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Women's water polo

There's going to be a new champion. The reigning winners from Italy were knocked off by the Netherlands, sending the Dutch into the semifinals against Hungary. Australia and the United States, the top two teams in the world rankings, will meet in the other semifinal.

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Badminton

It was a bad day to be an Indonesian mixed-doubles badminton player.

A South Korean team beat one pair of Indonesians in the gold-medal match, and a Chinese duo knocked out another Indonesian tandem for bronze.

In men's singles, China's Lin Dan won gold, beating Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei, making up for his first-round flop in Athens. He didn't lose a single game in five matches.

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Table tennis

China won the women's team competition, beating a Singapore team featuring three former Chinese athletes who went overseas in search of better playing opportunities. South Korea beat Japan for third place. South Korea's men's team advanced to the bronze match, where it, too, will face Japan.